Light reflecting ornament



Feb. 26, 1946. c; MEYER LIGHT REFLECTING ORNAMENT Filed May 6,; 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Qjllaga V ATTORNEYS Feb. 26, 1946. g, MEYER LIGHT RIEFLECTINGYORNAMENT Filed May 6, 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Feb. 26, 1946. C MEYER I 2,395,492

LIGHT REFLECTING ORNAMENT Filed May 6, 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 p l v I ATTORNEYS! Patented Feb. 26, 1946 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFECE LIGHT REFLECTING ORNAMENT Maximilian 0. Meyer, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Application May 6, 1941, Serial No. 392,072

Claims.

istics above recited and ornamental objects such as buttons, buckles, and ornamental objects generally which will be more specifically described hereinafter. I

In my copending application Serial No. 340,157, filed June 12, 1940, for Curved surface light re? fleeting ornament, now Patent No. 2,241,365 issued May 6, 1941, of which this is in part a continuation, I disclosed the broad principle of obtaining ornamental objects having different areas of different light reflectivity. This is effected by orienting faceted light reflecting particles in a plastic body and so grinding or cutting the body that in certain surface portions of the ornamental object resulting therefrom faceted light reflecting particles are oriented in directions generally parallel to the surface of the object so that light is strongly reflected therefrom, while in other surface portions of the object faceted light reflecting particles lying in and beneath that surface portion are oriented in a direction generally inclined to that surface portion so that light is weakly and negligibly reflected therefrom.

In the present application I am concerned specifically with the formation of various ornamental articles from plastic tubing in which faceted light reflecting particles, such as pearl essence derived from fish scale, or other light reflecting media commonly designated in the plastics industry as pearly, nacreous, silky, metallic, chatoyant, etc., are oriented parallel to each other and in a direction generally parallel to the surface of the object. The particles are arranged in a multiplicity of layers.

By removing material by cutting or grinding from this cylindrical object, I can form a cylinder or circular band stripping in which different portions thereof have different light reflecting properties. This cylinder can be used as a bracelet per se or it can be transversely cut or opened out into band form, and then cut into sections to form buttons, buckles, or the like, the cutting being so effected as to obtain additional surface areas of different light reflecting properties.

The synthetic plastics which may be employed in my invention include, for example, resins, such as the methacrylates and the acrylates, formaldehyde condensation products, particularly urea and phenol formaldehyde condensation products, vinyl compounds and other similar resins, natural and synthetic. In addition to these resins I may employ other synthetic plastics such as the cellulosic derivatives including cellulose esters, such as cellulose nitrate and cellulose acetate and cellulose ethers such as ethyl and benzyl cellulose. Other plastic materials which are at least translucent may also be employed. By "at least translucent, I mean transparent or translucent.

As a specific example of the plastic I may employ I have found that methyl methacrylate, sold under the trade name of Lucite gives extremely desirable results. It is peculiarly adapted to the requirements of the present invention, particularly because of its excellent transmission of light and also because of its index of refraction which varies from 1.50 to 1.52, and because of its clarity and absence of any interference. Further, it has a low light absorption. This combination of properties produces an ornamental object having a new and unexpected appearance when formed in accordance with the process to be hereinafter set forth.

It is the object of my invention to produce novel ornamental objects such as bracelets, buttons, buckles, and the like having different areas of different light reflectivity.

It is a further object of my invention to produce novel cylindrical bracelets of plastic material having faceted light reflecting particles oriented therein in a direction generally parallel to the surface of revolution of the cylindrical bracelet, the surface of the bracelet being so curved that in certain areas thereof thesurface is generally parallel to the faceted'light reflecting particles oriented thereunder so that light is strongly reflected therefrom while in other areas of the surface the surface is generally inclined to the direction of orientation of the faceted light reflecting particles thereunder so that light is weakly reflected therefrom.

It is a further object of my invention to form novel buttons, buckles and the like from strips of curved surface plastic material containing oriented faceted light reflecting particles, the ornamental surface of these buckles, buttons and the like having different areas of different light reflectivity.

I accomplish these results by forming a cylin drical plastic body such as a tube of some suitable resin or plastic as set forth above and orienting the faceted light reflecting particles in such a tube so that such particles are oriented in a direction generally parallel to the surface of with thedrawings'. i 3 1 a cross section of the plastic tube which I employ in my process.

Figure 2 is a section taken along the line 2-2 of Figure 1 showing the appearance and alignment of the faceted light reflecting particles.

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic plan view in partial section of the'apparatus and method of my invention.

Figure 4 is a partial side view and partial section showing the cylindrical tubing which I employ to form the articles of my invention. I

Figure 5 is aside view with a section broken away therefrom showing the bracelet formed according to my invention.

Figure 6 shows a strip formed by the cutting open'of the bracelet-shown in Figure 5 and suitably softening and flattening out that bracelet into strip form.

. Figure 7 is a side view of the bracelet shown in Figure 6.

Figure 8 is a plan view of a button formed from the strip shown in Figures 6 and 7.

Figure 9 is a side view of the button shown in Figure 8.

Figure 10 is a-crcss section taken along the line |0| 0 of Figure 8 to show the light reflecting effects of the plastic and the faceted light reflected particles oriented therein.

Figure 11 is a side view showing diagrammatically the means for pressing down the light reflecting spheres to form buttons for unusual properties.

Figure 12 is a side view of the button formed by the pressing operation generally shown in Figure 11.

Figure 13 is a top view of the button shown in Figure 12.

Referring now more specifically to the drawings I show in Figure 1 the plastic tubing I I having faceted light reflecting particles l2 oriented .therein in a direction and in layers generally parallel to the surface of revolution of the cylinder, The particles I2 may be oriented in the cylinder by employing the physical aligning action of extruding, shrinkage during polymerization, electrical field or any other suitable aligning process. .For example, when employing the resin methyl methacrylate I start with the monomer methyl methacrylate and thoroughly mix with thatmlonomer a suitable quantity of pear essence or other faceted light reflecting particles and then cast the so formed mix in a suitable cylindrical mold and subject the same to polymerizing influences such as heat, light or other polymerizing influences either with or without catalytic agents. During polymerization of the monomer to polymerized form which may be effected by gradually progressively heating the cylindrical mold, a certain shrinkage takes place and the pearl essence particles which have been homogeneously distributed throughout the plastic but haphazardly oriented therein are caused to be uniformly oriented in the cylindrical cast plastic in 4 dithe brackets" and 2|.

rectly generally parallel .to the surface of revolution of the cylinder. The particles are very tiny in size and flake-like in form and are shown diagrammatically in Figure 2.

In Figure 3 I show diagrammatically the mechanism by means of which I form the cylinde ll into the bracelets or cylindrical strips of my invention. with the faceted light reflecting particles oriented therein is placed into contact with a grinding wheel l5 having an abrasive grinding surface IS. The abrasivesurface may be, for example, formed of suitable grinding material such as that sold under the trade name of carborundum. The grinding wheel I5 is driven by a suitable source of power I! through the shaft ill to which the grinding wheel 15 is fixed. The shaft I8 is mounted in The grinding wheel I! is made up of a succession of grooves 23 partitioned by peaks :24. The plastic cylinder II is forced into pressure contact with this grooved grinding wheel l5 by the pusher roll 26 which is mounted on shaft 21 and suitably impelled by means of the sprocket 28 and the gear 29.

The pusher roll 26 which has an abrasive gripping surface thereon rotates in the same direction as the grinding wheel l5 as indicated by the arrow thereon and is impelled toward the grinding wheel by a suitable pressing force indicated on the support 3|.

As the plastic cylinder II is pressed into the grooved grinding wheel I 5, peaks 24 and the concave grinding grooves grind away the cylinder as diagrammatically shown in cross section at 33 and in perspective at 34.

The pressure of the pusher roll 26 and the grinding is continued until the concave grinding surfaces have formed a series of convex shaped elements on the cylinder and leaving a thin separating portion 36 between each of these convex elements. This separating section ma have a. thickness on the order of of an inch and is desirable in that it preserves the plurality of separate sections together so that they can be handled as a unit until it is desired to separate the same.

LAS will be noted in the cross sectional showing at 33 the convex surface comprise the central area 38 and the two side areas 39 and 40, which different surface areas are variously inclined with respect to the faceted light reflecting particles therebeneath.

The surface 38 is generally parallel to the faceted light reflectingparticles l2 beneath that surface portion, but the side surface areas 39 and 40 are generally inclined and in fact approach a right angle with respect to the direction'of orientation of the light reflecting particles l2 therebeneath.

Accordingly, light is'strongly reflected from the band surface portion 38 beneath which the light reflecting particles are oriented in a direction parallel therewith and light is weakly or negligibly reflected from the side areas 33 and 40 beneath which the light reflecting particles are inclined at a substantial angle so that they are viewed generally edgewise. The cylinder so shaped into a series of convex elements separated by thin separating sections is then taken from the machine and the different shaped bracelet element can be easily separated either by hand or machine one from the other, the separating sections 36 being easily ruptured.

In Figure 4 there is shown a plan view and partial section of the cylinder l I from which the orna- The polymerized plastic cylinder ll mental objects of my invention are formed. The orientation of the faceted light reflecting particles I: in a direction generally parallel to the surface of revolution of the cylinder II will be noted. Lines of demarkation 42 indicate generally the separation of this tube into different elements. This separation, as shown in Figure 3, is substantially accomplished by the shaping of the separated elements.

The separated convex elements are then, as shown in Figure 5, slightly under cut at. 48 and 44 to continue the curved surface and thus the different light reflecting characteristics of the article are shown and a smooth inner surface for the bracelet is provided. Dotted lines 45 indicate the original dimension of the cylinder and the extentof the material cut away therefrom; It will be noted that at the apex or crown 46 of the concave surface there has been a thin layer of material removed from the starting cylinder and I have found this removal of a thin portion of the material important from the standpoint of obtaining the best light reflecting appearance of the product.

When the bracelet is viewed from the eye position 58 light from any suitable source L is strongly reflected from the faceted light reflecting particles l2 which are oriented in a direction generally inclined with respect to those portions of the surface viewed, while when the eye views the same or other faceted light reflecting particles from the position 5| there is little no reflection from the faceted light reflecting par 'icles because such particles are generally inclined with respect to the surface viewed so that the edges of the particles are viewed and as in the case of a mirror viewed edgewise there is substantiallyno reflection there- 7 from.

When it is desired to form articles' such as buttons, buckles or the like, the bracelet, which 40 may be generally denoted as !,shoWn in Figure 5, may be transversely cut and then softened as by means of heat and spread open into a flat strip form such as is shown in Figures 6 and 7.

The central area 38 is strongly light reflecting and the side area 39 and 40 are weakly light refleeting as above explained.

This opened strip, which in strip form will be denoted as 56, may then be separated as shown by the dotted lines 51 into separate sections to form buttons and the cutting of the strip may take place in a direction inclined with respect to the strip as particularly shown in Figures 8 and 9 and specifically at the side 60 in Figure 9.

The under out side 43 is shown in Figure 7 and the different light reflecting properties of that portion are visible therefrom. By so cutting the strip 56 into button sections which may be denoted as 58 in Figures 8 and 9 a button havreflected and at the side areas 82 and 88 light is more strongly reflected than when the side areas are viewed from the eye position 88.

The remaining two side areas, namely 88 and cut side portions 59 and 80 are substantially ining areas of different light reflectivity can be obtained. In the central area 6| of the button, light is strongly reflected, the particles therebeneath being oriented generally parallel to the surface thereof. In the side portions 82 and 83 the light is relatively weakly reflected, but in graduated form because of the concave curved nature of the surface so that when viewed vertically light is more strongly reflected in the side portions 82 and 63 than when the same portions are viewed'from the side.

This is shown more particularly in Figure 10 where in the eye positions indicated at 65 the button and the side portions thereof are viewed substantially vertically. and in the eye position 68 the button is viewed from the side. Thus in clined with respect to the faceted light reflecting particles therebeneath, the appearance of the side portions 88 and 88, when viewed at a side angle, is that of the plastic alone since substantially no light is reflected from the faceted light reflecting particles therebeneath, such particles being viewed substantially edgewise. This colored non-reflecting surface isin contrast to the remaining ornamental areas of the object.

The formation of the buttons or similar ornamental objects from this 'strip material can be effected by die cutting said buttons to their flnal shape desired or by cutting, as by die cutting, the strip to separate the strip into the separate button elements and then finishing down these elements to the desired shape by a grinding operation.

A suitable fastening means such as loop 19 may be inserted at the rear of the ornamental object as by heating the metallic fastening loop and inserting it under pressure into the object where it becomes fixed in place.

In Figure 11 I show two spheres 80 and 8| which are plastic-spheres having different areas of different light reflectiveity formed according to my Patent No. 2,241,365. I subject these plastic spheres to suitable heat, which may be of any suitable nature in order to soften the plastic contained therein which for example may be methyl methacrylate, and when softened the balls are subjected to pressure between a pressure member 83 and a pressing platen 84. The pressure member 83 flattens down the balls 88 and 8| forming two buttons such as that shown in Fisure 12 and indicated as 86. By so positioning the ball so that the band of light reflecting area lies perpendicular to the direction of pressure, I obtain a button 86, shown in Figures 12 and 13, in which a flat light reflecting area, including both the lightly dotted areas 81 and the 'undotted area 88 is obtained. The side area 88 has substantially little light reflection.

Accordingly, the button I obtain has a flat broad area comprising 81 and 88 in which light is reflected during a single reflection from aspeciflc area 88 which area upon movement of the button 86 moves back and forth over the entire area defined by 8'! and 88. Thus, an unusual light reflecting appearance is obtained on the sideof the button shown in Figure 12.

A similar elusive o fleeting light reflection is obtained at 98 and this area of strongest light reflection at 88 can be moved by shifting the posi- 5 tion of the button so that the light anywhere in the eye position 88 light ingthe center is strongly a In order to obtain the varying light reflectin properties on the flat surface of the button, it is importa t that the button be so positioned in the pressing pparatus that the central band area of the sphere, which is capable of strongly reflecting light, be incontact with the pressing platens on each side. That is, it is that portion of the balls carrying this band area which is flattened out so that the the band in the finished article lies as shown in Figure 13 on each of the flat surfaces,

top and bottom, of the finished button.

I claim: 1. A method of producing a multiplicity of curved cylindrical ornamental objects having dif-- ferent areas of different light reflectivity from a generally tubular elongated plastic body having faceted light reflecting particles oriented therein in a direction generally parallel to the surface of the body which comprises simultaneously grinding said generally tubular body at a plurality of spaced points along said body in a directo expose portions beneath the original surface of. said body, shaping said exposed portions to provide a, series of attached adjacent body elements having substantially convex "surface areas, said convex surface areas being in part substantially inclined with respect to the faceted light reflecting particles in said body, then eparating said attached adjacentbody elementsinto a multiplicity of cylindrical ornamental objects having a substantially convex surface comprising a centrol peripheral band area and two side areas, the

' central peripheral band area being generally par- .tion generally transverse to the direction of orientation of said faceted light reflecting particles ing faceted light reflecting particles oriented therein ina direction generally parallel to the surface of the body which comprises simultaneously grinding said generally tubular body comprising a polymerized ester of the acrylic group in the presence of a substantial quantity of water at a plurality of spaced points along said body in a direction generally transverse to the direction of orientation of said faceted light reflecting particles to expose portions beneath the original surface of said body; shaping said exposed portions to provide a series of attached adjacent body elements having substantially convex surface areas, said convex surface areas being in part substantially inclined with respect to the faceted light reflecting particles in said body; separating said attached adjacent body elements into a multiplicity of cylindrical ornamental objects having a, substantially convex surface comprising a central peripheral hand area and two side areas, the central peripheral band area being generally parallel tothe faceted light reflecting particles therebeneath so that light is relatively strongly reflected from said light reflecting particles, the two side areas being generally inclined with respect to the faceted light reflecting particles therebeneath so that relatively little light is reflected from said light reflecting particles beneath said side areas.

3. A method as set out in claim 1 in which the cylindrical ornamental object is cut into a pin rality of sections, each of said sections having a substantially convex upper surface and a substantially planular bottom surface.

4. A method as set out in claim 1 in which the cylindrical ornamental object is cut and flattened out into strip form and separated into a plurality of separate sections having a substantially convex upper surface and a substantially planular bottom surface.

5. A method as set out in claim 1 in which the cylindrical ornamental object is cut and flattened out into strip form and separated into a plurality of separate sections having a substantially convex upper surface and a substantially planular bottom surface, and bevelling the edge of the separated section which ha been formed by the cutting operation.

MAIHMILIAN C. MEYER. 

